


From Scars to Stars

by starteas



Category: DnD - Fandom, Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Ekira Aandos, Original Work, Original characters - Fandom, Quizzle M’Gotto, original character - Fandom
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-25
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:00:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26641843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starteas/pseuds/starteas
Summary: The scars on Ekira’s back have always been a symbol of trauma. But maybe, with a friend’s help, they can have a whole different meaning to them— and start them on the path to healing.
Relationships: Friendship - Relationship, Hurt/Comfort - Relationship, dnd - Relationship, iiii guess kfhhdndbd, pining - Relationship, sorta self indulgent but ah well what can ya do
Kudos: 2





	From Scars to Stars

The gentle breeze silently rustled its way through the small town of Veil, with owlbears and the rustling of leaves accompanying the nightly sounds. 

Normally when dawn turned to dusk, the sight of the stars would bring some comfort for the goat-like tiefling, but after having settled down for the night with the rest of the team, the noises outside seemed anything but calming after the day they’d had.

Inhaling shakily, Ekira closed their eyes as they attempted to calm themselves down, the rustling of their brown fur feeling particularly warm as they unbuttoned their shirt, letting it fall to the floor in a crumpled heap. They shivered as the breeze hit the bare part of their back, hooves curling whilst they rested their chin in their knees. 

Though the scars had faded some, it was almost as if they could still feel the searing pain in their back once more as his foot pressed harder into it, the fur singeing and burning underneath the weight of—

No. No. No. It’s still too fresh.

Squeezing their eyes shut farther, their hooves dig deeper into their fur, biting their bottom lip as they tried to take a few short breaths. 

“Steady, steady... it’s alright, now. No need t’ worry.”

Opening their eyes, they let out another shaky breath, trying their best to blink back their tears. Though their words sounded anything but convincing, it at least offered some temporary comfort, feeling their breath slowly regain its steady pace.

“Yeah... yeah! It’ll be alright, Ekira, ol’ friend. No need t’ worry yourself silly, y’hear?” they scolded themselves, a false chuckle slipping past their lips before steadily standing up. “At this rate, you’re gonna just work yerself into a tizzy. No need ta worry at all!”

“Worry about what?”

Ekira felt themselves freeze, immediately turning their back towards the wall, locking eyes with Quizzle as he sleepily lumbered into the room, his one eye half lidded as he let out an exaggerated yawn.

“Oh, uh— worry about nothin’! Nothin’ in particular, nothin’ at all, er- jus’ a whole lotta nothin’!” they chirped, a false smile plastered on their face with even more false enthusiasm.

“Oh. Well, that’s good. After today, I think it’s best to say that we keep the worries out of our mind for the rest of the night, don’t’cha think?” Quizzle grinned, his buck-tooth smile having a sleepy edge to it as he made his way towards the tiefling.

“Ow— Shit!”

“Ah, careful!” Ekira yelped, quickly rushing to his side as Quizzle nearly tripped over a stray suitcase. “Y’alright, Quizz?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Toe’s probably broken, though— alongside most of everything else.” he joked, gesturing to the dimly lit bandages across his arms.

“Ah,” Ekira giggled, a small smile on their face. “I guess those cure wounds are still takin’ a while to heal ya up. It was a tough battle for sure, but I’m glad you managed t’ push through it!”

Quizzle snorted, allowing Ekira to guide him to the couch as he slumped down. “Besides the part where we almost all got killed.”

They smiled. “Yeah, I think it definitely coulda gone better.”

A string of awkward silence filled the air as Ekira began to twiddle their thumbs, while Quizzle picked at a frayed bandage.

“So.... why are you awake?”

Ekira nearly jumped at the question, blinking in surprise as their ears lowered. “Me? Oh, uh, I.... just... needed to be somewhere quiet.” they lied, a weak smile on their face. “Az’s snoring is nice and all, but it doesn’t make for some good white noise, especially at night!”

They both snickered before they tilted their head, brows raised curiously. “How about you?”

“Oh, me? Decided to use the one part of me that wasn’t broken to go and take a piss. Unless my pelvis is broken too. Dunno how a cure wounds would fix that easily,” he joked, the two of them bursting into laughter as Ekira gave him a playful shove. “Ow! Still healing!”

“Sorry, sorry!” they giggled, quickly pulling away as their smile slightly faltered before disappearing altogether, the awkward silence quickly returning.

“So, uh.. how about you? How’s your back healing?” Quizzle asked, breaking the silence as Ekira froze up next to him, looking tense.

“My... my back?”

“Yeah, your back! I saw you get hit with that blast to the back, remember?” Quizzle mimicked the impact with his fist to his palm, tilting his head. “I can’t imagine walking around, especially after a hit that bad. I’m surprised your spine didn’t explode, or something!”

Oh. Right.

“Oh, uh, it’s... it’s fine. Doesn’t hurt all that much, really.” they lied, pressing their back into the couch as they gave him a forced smile. “Heh, no spine explodin’ here! Ha. Heh...”

Ekira’s plastered smile grew weaker as Quizzle stared at them, expression unreadable before chuckling, giving Ekira a hearty thump on the shoulder.

“Well, that’s a relief! Wouldn’t want any of our teammates to kick the bucket so soon, am I right?!” he grinned as Ekira let out a wince at the thump. 

“Ha.. ha... right.” they chuckled weakly, rubbing their arm.

“You’re also the worst liar I’ve ever come across.” Quizzle said, quickly maneuvering his arm to pin Ekira’s arm to their back, causing them to yelp in surprise before letting them go.

“Ow! Quizzle—!”

“You know I’m not stupid, right? I can sense a liar a mile away. And considering how many times you’ve fallen for mine—“ he paused to gently flick Ekira’s forehead. “—you’re pretty much runner up in worst liar of the millennium. Now, spill.”

“I, you— ow, first of all!” they cried out, cheeks burning in embarrassment. No wonder he caught them in the act— he’d always been great at perception.

“An’ second of all, Quizz, I was telling’ the-“

“Ekira. Come on now.” he deadpanned, raising a brow, crossing his arms

“I...” they started, then quickly stopped, biting their bottom lip as they looked away. “It’ll heal.”

Quizzle said nothing, but his expression softened, reaching an arm out as Ekira flinched. 

“I didn’t want y’all to worry.” they said in a small voice as he put a gentle hand to their back, the other wiping their tears as they began to sniffle.

“Can I take a look?” he asked, placing a hand on their shoulder.

Ekira nodded, letting out a shaky breath as they sat up, anxiously facing their back towards Quizzle. 

“Wow. That’s fucked.” He whistled, eyes widening before trying to correct himself. “I mean, uh, I knew it was bad, but I didn’t think... I, uh...”

Ekira let out a shaky laugh, though it sounded anything but genuine. “Worse than ya expected, huh? It’s alright. Some’a ‘em are older than it looks.”

Quizzle’s hand hesitated on their back as their shoulders began to shake, quiet sobs heaving from them as he pulled them into a wordless hug before their cries soon morphed into soft hiccups and sniffles.

“.... Do you remember how you got them?” Quizzle asked, the tiefling’s face buried into his chest as the last of their sobs had vanished.

“Sort of. It’s— blurry. But I can remember some things. Like th’ pain, and.. the smell.” was their muffled reply, a loud sniffling sound coming from them as they sulkily lifted their head up.

“I guess the smell of barbecued fur doesn’t sound pleasant to most,” he tried to joke, quickly slapping his hand over his mouth. “Uh, I mean-“

A weak laugh escaped their mouth followed by a loud sniff, wiping their tear stained face across their arm as they smiled shakily up at him. “No, I can’t imagine it d-does.”

“Sorry.”

“S’alright.”

The silence pierced the air once more, the only sounds being heard were Ekira’s soft sniffles and Az’s muffled snores in the next room over.

“Well, um. Guess I should get t’ bed. Didn’t mean ta keep you up with my ramblin’.” Quizzle snapped out of his train of thought as Ekira stood up, picking their shirt up from off the floor as they began to hastily put it on.

“Hey— wait. I... was thinking.”

“Mm? About?”

“Don’t— don’t put your shirt on just yet. I have an idea.” Quizzle grabbed a hold of Ekira’s shoulders, plopping them back down on the couch with a hasty “oof” before making a dash to the shared bedroom, entering the living room again and making a beeline for Ekira.

Ekira looked bewildered as the elf plopped down next to them, ordering them to turn around. “Quizzle, what are you-“

“Shh! The great Quizzle M’Gotto is hard at work and needs absolute silence for the genius he is about to behold!” He ordered, gripping onto their shoulder as he pressed into their back gently as possible.

“AH! Quizzle, that tickles!” Ekira yelped, beginning to squirm as they burst into slight giggles, trying to look over their shoulder. “Is that a pen? What are you-!”

“Shush! Absolute silence!” He commanded, ignoring the loud snort from the tiefling as he continued, trying to make his lines as precise as possible. 

“Any more noise and the great M’Gotto will be forced to draw a penis on your back if any of the lines are askew.”

“WHAHAHAT?!”

After a few minutes of drawing from Quizzle and giggling from Ekira, Quizzle wiped his brow before tapping Ekira on the shoulder with the pen. “The great M’Gotto is done.” he said with a grin, wiggling the now visible purple glitter pen.

“Done? With what? Givin’ me ink poisonin’?” they snorted, giggling as Quizzle gently bopped their nose with the tip of the pen.

“No, silly. I mean the great Quizzle M’Gotto just finished turning your scars.... into stars.”

“To.... stars?”

“Purple glitter pen. Looks like space. I drew over them. It’s not rocket science, Ekira!” He scolded playfully as he poked their shoulder with the pen.

“Ow! Enough pokin’ and proddin’, Mr. Rocket Science!” they huffed, giving him a gentle shove before glancing towards their back.

The lines were shaky, but the visible scars they had were now replaced with purple glitter pen, with some of the smaller scars being connected as if it were a constellation, mapping the skin on their back with stars and constellations of all kinds.

“It’s not permanent, of course. I ran out of ink when it came to the last few upper scars, but, I figured that, well...” Quizzle shrugged, a half grin on his face. “It’d be a less painful reminder to look back on— oof!”

Quizzle’s words were cut short as Ekira tackled him into a hug, squeezing him tight with their face buried in his shoulder, tail thumping against the cushions rapidly as they let out a wavering “thank you. It’s beautiful.”

Careful not to smudge the ink, Quizzle smiled, patting their shoulder as Ekira pulled away, a big, wobbly smile on their face. 

“Hey, you know, about those constellations— I can tell you about them if you want.”

With an excited smile, Ekira nestled themselves into Quizzle’s chest, tail wagging excitedly as he gently traced his fingers over the pen marks, telling them all about the stories of the stars on their skin until morning.


End file.
